29/04/2020

The European Association for Palliative Care approves a working group led by UIC Barcelona to research the desire to hasten death

Dr Cristina Monforte, the director of the Department of Nursing and co-director of the WeCare Chair, and Dr Raymond Voltz, Head of the Palliative Care Unit of the University Hospital of Cologne (Germany), are responsible for coordinating this international working group

The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) has approved the proposal “Wish To Hasten Death (WTHD) in patients with life-threatening illnesses: A clinical issue” presented by the international working group led by UIC Barcelona. The team is formed by 23 researchers from different fields of health and led by Dr Cristina Monforte and Dr Raymond Voltz, and the main aim is to further the knowledge of the desire to hasten death in patients with life-threatening conditions. 
 
The researchers’ objective is, at the end of the three years of work, develop a White Paper that compiles current knowledge about the clinical aspects of the desire to hasten death. It will describe the current situation of WTHD across Europe through multiprofessional information regarding its perceived frequency, causes, forms of assessment and response, in cancer patients and non-cancer patients. The aim is to offer evidence-based palliative care strategies and actions to address the evaluation and the response of WTHD.
 
“The European cultural reality has become very varied in recent decades and the response to suffering and the reality is diverse, both personally and nationally,” states Dr Monforte, “This is why it is essential for the work of health professionals, mainly in palliative care, to understand the issues related to an evaluation and response that is significant, sensible and appropriate to the reality.” 
 
The working group also includes other researchers from UIC Barcelona’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences: Dr Albert Balaguer, Dean of the Faculty, Dr Iris Crespo, Dr Mariona Guerrero and Dr Denise Pergolizzi, lecturers at the Department of Psychology and the Department of Nursing, Joaquim Julià, researcher in the WeCare Chair, and Dr Andrea Rodríguez-Prat, lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities.
 
The EAPC is an organisation that seeks to influence, promote and advocate for the delivery of high-quality palliative care across the life span by fostering and sharing palliative care education, research, policy and evidence-based practice.